Little Twins, Big Trouble
by Aistanocha Black
Summary: Three-year-old versions of the Twins, adopted by a normal family. That'd be trouble enough, but when their mom decides to sign them up for arts-and-crafts classes, well... paint is gonna fly. CHAPTERS 4-7 UP!
1. Meet the Connors

Thanks to: The Ghost Twins, the Virus Twinnies, Agent 01 Moore, and Big Bird (the uploader). You know who you are, o frequenters of the Furcadia Matrix dream. (Yes, the little twins are named after the actors.)

To those of you who don't know what I'm talking about: go to , download and install it, and send a whisper to Agent 01 Moore. (No, that's not me.)

Obligatory disclaimer: No, I don't own the Matrix or anything to do with it. That belongs to the Architect... uh, I mean the Wachowski brothers. And Warner Brothers. Yeah.

* * *

"MOMMMMMMM! The twins got paint on my homework AGAIN!" shrieked Linnelly Connor, a thirteen-year-old girl. At the sound of her shout, two small, giggling white figures had fled the scene of the crime. Also known as her bedroom. 

She sighed and had a look at the paint-smeared mess on her desk, once a page and a half of math questions. Now, blue and yellow paint, especially small handprints, was all over the paper and most of the surrounding area.

Linnelly stuck her head out of her room. "I _told_ you to put the paint _away_ when you're done with it, Mirellah!"

Her seven-year-old sister looked pouty. "I didn't know they could get into it that fast!"

"Well, they did! And you should've known. Remember what happened when Mom left that pudding on the counter?"

Both girls shuddered. That had come to be known as 'The Pudding Incident.' The three-year-old twins had found bowls of banana cream pudding on the kitchen counter, left there by Mrs. Connor to set. Within the half an hour it took her to return from the grocery store, the kitchen, as well as all five of the Connors- the twins, Linnelly, Mirellah, and their older sister Lilluai- were completely covered in pudding.

"Oh, yeah." The little girl grinned. "That was good pudding."

"Whatever… Mom should never have signed them up for arts-and-crafts classes. They're gonna be little terrors."

"They already are!" complained Lilluai from down the hall.

On the other side of Lilluai's bedroom wall, the twins in question were sitting on one of their beds, giggling about what they'd done to their (adoptive) sister's homework.

"She said we're wittle terwors. Is dat bad?" asked one, with his ear pressed to the white-painted wall.

"Maybe. But you know Lillwy, lotsa the time she says stuff she doesn't mean." The twin booted a small, inflatable white ball at his brother.

The twin didn't need to move to avoid getting beaned by the ball, but he did anyways. "Waita minnit, she's talkin' 'gain." His ear went back up against the wall.

The two of them, Adrian and Neil, weren't ordinary three-year-olds. As Mirellah had said the first time she saw them, they looked "like they're from space or something." That was an exaggeration, but they did look a bit... unusual.

Their hair was two heads' worth of white, shoulder-length dreadlocks. Mrs. Connor had given up hope of ever brushing either twin's hair; she said it was "untamed, and it always will be, short of shaving it off."

The two of them always wore white clothes- trenchcoats, over dressy shirts, pants and even ties, as well as sunglasses. In short, they looked like little versions of the Twins from the Matrix Reloaded… which wasn't surprising, because they _were_.


	2. PWAINT!

The little twins were due to begin art classes next week, at the community center. But, before it could happen, Mrs. Connor had to make arrangements with the neighbors. Which wasn't easy, due to the things that'd happened around the neighborhood ever since she brought the two of them home.

She had to ask five different neighbors before she came to Mrs. Patrinsky, a mother who lived about a block away. But she didn't have kids. All she'd have to deal with, besides the twins, would be her cat.

"Relax, Laurelynne!" she'd said. "They're only a pair of three-year-olds! How bad can they be?"

Every member of the Connor family could have answered that. But Laurelynne just forced a smile and said, "I'm sure you'll handle them."

* * *

The day of their first class, you could tell the twins knew something involving them was going on. They were as excited as anyone else- with the possible exception of their seven-year-old sister, who was jealous. 

And it showed. At breakfast, they'd barely eat their cereal. Actually,Neil managed to drop his bowl _off_ his high chair's tray, getting Cheerios and milk all over the floor. Luckily, it was tiled, so it didn't take too long to clean up.

They also refused to wear anything easier to clean than their usual white outfits, even though, as Lilluai unhelpfully put it, "they're like paint magnets." This resulted in two voices asking, curiously, "Pwaint?"

"PWAINT! PWAINT! PWAINT!" they shrieked.

Linnelly moaned. "Look what you've done."

"All I said was paint-"

"PWAINT!!!!"

As she parked her minivan, Mrs. Connor turned to the twins. "You're sure you won't wear smocks?"

"Is sure."

"Well, just try not to get your nice clothes dirty, okay?" Privately, Laurelynne thought this was about as likely as them staying dry while swimming, but she'd keep her opinions to herself. She didn't even bother correcting their grammar.

"Okay, Mommy." They smiled angelically up at her.

"Oh, look!" said the arts-and-crafts teacher, as Mrs. Connor walked the little twins into the classroom. "Now, let's see..." She flipped through a few pages on her clipboard. "You'll be Adrian and Neil Connor?"

The twins, and their mom, nodded.

"Alrighty then. You're in this class. I'm Jenna DeWitt, by the way." She steered the little boys towards a short, vivid blue table.

Jenna turned towards Laurelynne. "Mrs. Connor, did you have to dress them like... that... today? They're going to be fingerpainting! And do they have to be dressed alike? I don't have the slightest hope of telling them apart."

Mrs. Connor sighed. "They refuse to wear different clothes. It's hard enough getting them out of those outfits to wash them."

"Well... all right then..." She ushered the Connors' mother from the room.

"Hi!" exclaimed a little girl with dark pigtails, about the same age as they were, as the twins sat down at the blue table. "I'm Emma. What're your names?"

"We're Adrian and Neil."

"Oh, cool! You're twins! I never seen twins before." She looked closer at them. "Why're you wearing sunglasses? It not sunny in here."

"We like dem."

"Oh." Emma turned away, and then held up a big sheet of paper. "We finger-pwainting tooday."

"Pwaint?"

"Pwaint!"

Jenna came over to them. "Now, children, before I hand out the paint, I want to go over a few rules," she said smoothly.

"Keep the paints on the paper and your hands. Don't wipe your hands on your clothes. Don't wipe your hands on other children's clothes, either."

Attentive nods from around the classroom.

"No eating the paint. It's not good for you."

More nods.

"If you want to get the paint off your hands, you can use the little sink at the back of the room, and the towel next to it AFTER you rinse off your hands."

Nods again.

"Don't paint on anyone else's paper."

Yet more nods, becoming almost robotic in appearance.

"Do you understand?"

"Uh-huh," answered the class.

"Good. I'll hand out the paint."

Five minutes later, Adrian and Neil were engrossed in the finger-painting. "This is Mommy,"Adrian said to his twin as he made a large smear on the paper.

"Dat doesn't look like Mommy. Where's her head?"

"Over here." He pointed to a different part of the drawing.

"Ohhh. Where's Linny?"

"Here."

This continued for about fifteen more minutes beforeNeil got bored. Dipping his finger into the bright purple paint, he made a smeary streak across the painting of Sarah, who sat next to him.

She shrieked and flung her hand up. "MISS JENNA,HE SMEARED MY PICTURE!"

The young teacher came hurrying over. "Oh, Sarah, it's not that bad. Look, you can turn it into a..." –she cast her mind around wildly- "a purple cat!"

Sarah grinned, and dipped her own finger into the paint. Both twins were snickering. It made her mad, so instead of putting hand to paper, she dumped the whole baby-food-jar of paint over Neil's head.

In the first couple of seconds afterwards, he was so shocked he just sat there and blinked. But, instead of the bawling Jenna expected, he looked angry, and,in retribution, picked up the jar of green paint and threw it at the girl. He missed, and the jar hit the wall four feet away, but most of the paint landed on her anyways.

Unfortunately, he'd gotten other class members as well... including the teacher. She looked as shocked as he had when he had the paint dumped on his head.

About half a minute later, she came to her senses and said, "Well, Neil, that was very bad, and you've still got purple all over you! Let's go clean you up." "She dragged him off to the washroom.

The three-year-old boy looked sorry at first, but when the teacher's back was turned, he grinned and winked at Adrian. He wasn't _really_ sorry.


	3. Cat Torture

No teacher was ever more grateful for her class being over, except, perhaps, a few high school substitutes. These twins had turned an ordinary fingerpainting session into complete chaos! And they were only three.

Neil had leaped onto a table and thrown the paint set on it everywhere- in large handfuls. It hit the walls, the floor, the furniture, the screaming kids. Some of them had hidden, while others were wearing paper hats that had come out of nowhere and throwing paint as well.

Meanwhile, Adrian was underneath another table stealthily smearing paint onto other children's shoes. As a result, the whole room looked like an abstract painting, with multicolored splatters and footprints everywhere, and shrieks- including the occasional "PWAINT!!!"- echoed off the walls.

_How on earth am I going to explain this to their parents?_ thought the teacher, as she desperately, and futilely, tried to get a large, egg-shaped blue spot off the wall. _It's not as if this is common. I mean, I've had a few paint fights before, but this was paint _war

Mrs. Patrinsky was standing in the doorway, looking mildly dissatisfied but not at all surprised. "Are you Ms. DeWitt?"

"That's me." She swallowed. "Which one is yours?"

"The twins." She directed a look at Neil- who now had blue-streaked hair and clothes that looked like they'd been tie-dyed- and Adrian, who had orange, green, and bubblegum pink stains all over his formerly white outfit.

"Very well, I'll just go and- ah- collect them."

With one hand keeping a firm but gentle grip on a twin's arm, she steered the two of them over to their babysitter. "Here you go."

"Thanks. I suppose I'll be seeing you again next Saturday," she called as the three of them walked away. The young teacher's insides turned cold. Next _Saturday? They'll be here again? Oh $&..._

_

* * *

_As Jennifer Patrinsky buckled the twins into their car seats, she said, "I don't suppose you're going to tell me why the entire room was covered in paint? Including yourselves?" 

The two of them remained completely silent. Neil gave the woman a 'you'll-never-get-anything-out-of-me' look.

"Have it your way, then." They drove off.

At the Patrinsky house, there was a fair amount of kid stuff, it being the home of three older children. However, the TV, computer, and stacks of video games didn't interest Neil and Adrian. They went straight for the cat, which was orange-furred and named Flash.

Flash yowled as Neil, fascinated by the creature, tried to pick it up by its tail. Mrs. Patrinsky swooped down on them. "Now, now, leave the cat alone."

The twins obediently backed away. Satisfied, Mrs. Patrinsky returned to her novel.

But, only about a minute later, they were watching Flash again. As the cat went to jump onto the TV, they surprised it by phasing into its path and appearing out of nowhere, clean again. Sure enough, they both got some cat scratches, and Flash was understandably freaked out.

This didn't seem to be enough for the little twins. They grabbed Flash and sat down on top of the poor animal.

"MRRREEEAOOOOWWWL!" yowled the angry cat, tying to get out from underneath them, with very little success. When Adrian turned to see if their babysitter had noticed it, Flash streaked out from under him, dumping Neil off.

"You shouldnta got up!" complained the boy, giving his twin a 'look'.

"I wasn' tryin' to!" Adrian pouted.

"You let it gedda way!"

"I just told you, I didn' mean to geddup!"

"Well, you did!"

"Boys! Boys! That's enough!" Mrs. Patrinsky had finally noticed them. "You shouldn't have been sitting on the poor cat in the first place!"

"Sorrwee." And, indeed, both twins looked sorry. Mrs. Patrinsky, thinking this was good enough, although curious as to how they had mysteriously become free of paint splatters, walked back to the table to continue her reading.

Ten minutes later, when both twins were sitting on the couch, Neil whispered in Adrian's ear.

"I tink we should scare the kitty 'gain."

"But Mittheth Patwinskee says dat's bad!" protested his brother.

"So? Mittheth Patwinskee noh' even lookin' at us."

"But we get in twoubwle! Why you wanna scare kitty anyways?"

"Cause kitty makes funny noises when it scared! You like da noises too!"

"Oh-kay... How we gonna scare kitty?"

Adrian listened attentively, followed by a grin, as Neil whispered into his ear.

Fifteen minutes after she'd deposited the Connor twins on the couch, Mrs. Patrinsky was startled into jumping about three feet off her chair at a sudden blast of music from the stereo. It looked as if poor Flash had suffered the same thing; he had shot up and across the room like a bullet and gone right under the table, on top of her feet. That was probably where he'd stay, until the twins went home.


	4. The Aftermath, and Beautification

After another half hour of cat torture, Mrs. Connor returned to pick up the twins. The Patrinsky household looked much better than she expected; it was still standing, all the furniture was intact (though one couch cushion was sagging a little from being leaped on) and, except for the poor cat, the living inhabitants were mostly unharmed.

The twins weren't even paint-splattered, which she'd been dreading. In fact, except for some cat scratches on their hands and faces, they looked good as new. That came as a shock, especially when the babysitter told them how messy they'd been when she left. But Laurelynne just shrugged and accepted it as a mystery of life. Strange things did tend to happen around Adrian and Neil.

* * *

At home, Mrs. Connor dared to ask the little twins about their day. All she got was a mildly interested look from Adrian, and a "Nuth'n," from Neil.

Mirellah was a little more direct. "Didja get in trouble? Huh? Huh?"

"We dunno." Adrian reached for his cup of juice. Unfortunately, he was a bit too far away.

"Whaddya mean, you dunno? Either you did or you didn't!"

"We do'no if we're gonna be in trouble next time we there." He stretched out his arm for the cup again.

"_Gonna_ be in trouble? You mean you got away with whatever you did?"

"May-bee." Neil, sitting closer to the all-important cup, tried to pass his brother the juice. Unfortunately, he chose the exact same moment that Adrian did to reach for it. The cup overturned on the table.

Both twins stared at it, as Linnelly came over to them. "Oh, nooo..." she groaned.

"What? We do someting bad?" they asked, staring at her with innocent but curious faces.

"Um... sort of." In a futile effort, she tried to mop up the spreading puddle.

"Sor-da? Whad'ya mean by sor-da?" They looked even more curious.

"Never mind. I'll just clean it up." Getting more frustrated by the minute, Linnelly tried, once again, to mop up the puddle. "Oh, forget it, I'll just go get Mom." She dropped the cloth.

That night, after the apple juice had been cleaned up, dinner served (which had its only interruption when Neil stuffed macaroni and cheese up his nose) and everyone was in bed and asleep, the two boys found themselves wide awake.

"You sleepy?" Adrian asked, looking at his brother. Although they had separate beds, they preferred to share one. Which one got used changed often.

"Nope."

"What we do? This boring."

"Hmmm..." Neil went quiet as he thought. There were lots of things the two of them could do together at night, but some of them would wake up their mommy and sisters, which would be bad. Finally, he had an idea. "I know!"

Adrian leaned over as his brother whispered into his ear. "Soun's good."

"C'mon." The door had been left open, for light from the hall. They pushed it a little further open, and walked a bit further down the hallway, towards the next open door.

It was Lilluai's room. The sixteen-year-old was asleep in her bed, facing the wall and snoring very softly. The twins tiptoed over to the open makeup case on the dresser.

"This the stuff she puts on her face," Adrian whispered to Neil.

"Why just her face?" He picked up a tube of lipstick and drew on the wood of the dresser. "Is good drawing stuff too."

"She not draw on her face though."

"Oooh!" Neil had spotted a container of blush, as well as some bright orange nail polish and a makeup brush. "Lookit this, Adrian!"

"What it?" He leaned over.

"I dunno." The boy used the brush to smear blush on the mirror. "But look a' it on dis thing."

"Oooh. Lemme try." Adrian reached for the nail polish. Drawing the little brush out of the container, he painted a big, orange, smeary smiley face on the same mirror. "Hey, I godda idea! Let's put dis stuff on her!"

"You sure she like it?"

"It always take her a mill-yun 'n' three hours to put it on in da morning. She be glad we did it for her."

"Okay." They proceeded to put lipstick on her nose, eyeshadow all over her chin, blush on her forehead, and more lipstick- this one was blue- on her cheeks.

The little twins stood back and admired their handiwork. "You sure dat byoodeful?" asked Adrian, skeptically.

'"She put it on alla time. Maybe she like look like dat. 'Member when she made her hair all purply?" That had actually been an accident- she had been trying to dye her hair red- but the twins didn't know it.

"Truu. Now we go backa sleep."

"O-kay." They walked back to their room, where they promptly crawled back under the covers of Adrian's bed and went right to sleep.


	5. Rubadubdub, two Twinnies in a tub

The next morning, screams split the otherwise calm morning in two. "AAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! IT'S AN ALIEN!!!!!" shrieked Lilluai, who'd caught sight of her reflection in the window. "AND MY DRESSER IS WRECKED!"

She raced over to the piece of furniture, and, as she was examining the mirror itself, realized something. That alien was _her_! But... what _happened_ to her last night? Something blue was all over her cheeks, her forehead was a burgundy shade, her chin was purple and shiny, and- was that her best, rose-red lipstick on her _nose_?

More screaming came from her room, even louder, and more hysterical. Linnelly wasn't sure whether to laugh or go all Stern Sister on either Mirellah or the twins, depending on exactly what was _in_ Lilluai's room.

It wouldn't be too hard to tell which of them did it; all she'd need to find out was what was going on in there. They had very different ideas of what made a good prank, although she wasn't even sure if Adrian and Neil knew something like this was wrong.

She was interrupted in her thoughts as the oldest Connor child ran into the bathroom, allowing Linnelly a good look at what had happened; makeup was all over her face, but it looked more like the kind of makeup applied in a movie to make someone look like an alien. And a rather cheapo movie at that.

Five minutes later, she came out of the bathroom again, still with lipstick on her nose and slightly blue cheeks, but her face was almost back to normal.

"Stop laughing!" she shouted, as the middle sister tried desperately to hide her giant grin. "You wouldn't think it was so funny if those little brats had done this to you!"

"Oh, come on, Lill, they're only three. When you were three you poured an entire pitcher of pink lemonade into Mom's sock drawer!"

"What?!" She crossed her arms and leaned into her sister's face. "How'd you find out about that? You weren't even a year old when it happened!"

"Mom told me! And, anyways, leave the twins alone. They don't know any better."

"_Sure_ they don't." She stomped off.

Linnelly walked into Adrian and Neil's room, only a few minutes after being yelled at by her older sister. "Okay, you two. _Did_ you do... that... to Lilluai?"

"Do what?" Neil looked at her with big innocent eyes.

"You know. Get makeup all over her last night? And her dresser?"

"We kinda did," Adrian said. Neil gave him a look that clearly said 'shut up', which their sister didn't catch. "We thought she'd like it."

"Well, she didn't. Don't do that again, okay?"

"Okay, Linny." Both twins looked sorry.

"Now, it's time for breakfast anyways. Pancakes and orange juice." She picked up the two of them and carried them downstairs.

* * *

Later that day, not much happened, except that Lilluai went and rented a few movies but didn't end up watching them. Well, and Linnelly got permission to have a small slumber party, the next night, and started inviting people. The phone was tied up by one or another of them all evening.

But this changed when, after dinner, when everyone else had left the table, Mrs. Connor uttered some of the worst words known to kidkind: "Time for you two to have a bath, I think," she said to Adrian and Neil.

First, they looked shocked and horrified; then the look changed to rebellious. They ran in different directions, Adrian diving under the table, and Neil would have joined his brother if Linnelly hadn't caught him. "Gotcha!"

Mrs. Connor came back out of the kitchen, where she'd been duelling with some dirty dishes. "Thanks, Lin. Can you hold onto him while I get the other one?"

"Sure." Her mother crawled under the table, managing to get Adrian out from under it. "Help me get these two up to the bathroom."

That was an exaggeration; the worst the twins tried to do while being taken upstairs was glare at their captors and attempt to wriggle out of their arms. Finally, Linnelly and her mom deposited them on the bath mat.

After Linnelly left the room, the twins undressed themselves. A little clumsily, but they certainly weren't still wearing anything when they got into the tub, and they hadn't even needed help from their mom (except when one twin got stuck in his shirt).

"Okay, you two, I have something for you." Laurelynne pulled a bag out from behind the tub and turned it upside down. Two brand new, shiny, plastic tugboats fell into the bathtub.

"Those are _only_ for the bathtub, though," she explained hastily, as the boys got delighted looks on their faces. They started pushing the boats around in the water, making various (and remarkably realistic) sounds at the same time.

After just under an hour of this, and trying to get them clean (how on earth did relish end up behind Adrian's left ear?) their mom decided it was time to wash their hair. Maybe then she could get a brush through it once in a while.

When this was announced, though, Adrian and Neil looked completely horrified. They put their hands over their dreadlocks and scrunched themselves up, refusing to budge. "NO wash hair!" they shrieked together.

"But you've got _mayonnaise_ in your hair, look." She held up one of Adrian's dreads, then stopped. "Wait a second. How on earth did you two get mayo in the first place?"

They gave her the same 'you'll-never-get-anything-out-of-me' look Neil had turned on Mrs. Patrinsky. Laurelynne just shrugged, and took the removable showerhead off its perch on the wall.

Adrian, the closer one, got it first. Still scrunched up, with his eyes squeezed shut as if expecting it to hurt, he sat under the streaming water.

Neil was the next under the showerhead. He looked exactly the same as his twin had when Mrs. Connor held it over his head.

By now, Laurelynne realized, it would be nearly impossible to actually wash their hair with anything besides soap and water. The twins wouldn't let her do it, anyways. With a sigh, she turned off the water and pulled the plug out of the bathtub.


	6. Slumber party!

Yay! I got to give five (a record number) of my characters cameo appearances- including, of course, Aist, this account's namesake. (If you really did sign up on Furcadia after I told you to in the first chapter, you can ask either me (same name as this account) or Agent 01 Moore about The Root Beer Incident.)

The day after the Battle of the Bath, Linnelly held her slumber party. As it happened, she was able to invite quite a few people: her friends Aistanocha Black, Kasirell Dreamsinger, Tallimine Jones, and Luca McKay. Plus, two more people- the adult Twins, and a casual friend of hers named Sydney McClellan- were going to come and watch the movies Lilluai had left for them, even though they couldn't stay for the sleepover.

But no one bothered to find out what the movies were _about_ beforehand, which proved to be a big mistake. Of course, no one knew it at the time (except Lilluai), but both were horror movies.

That evening, Linnelly piled extra (purple) sleeping bags in the hallway, which were there in case someone forgot theirs. It was something their mother insisted on when any of the Connors held sleepovers.

The doorbell rang, and she went to open it. "Finally, someone's here."

"Hi!" Aist and Kasirell were on the doorstep, both carrying duffel bags that looked ready to burst.

"C'mon in. Just dump your stuff over there, by the sleeping bags."

"Okay." Kasirell- looking as if she was about to collapse on the floor from the weight- managed to half-carry, half-drag both bags over to the pile, while Aist plopped herself down on the couch. "What're we watching?"

Linnelly shrugged. "I dunno. A couple movies Lilluai rented."

"Oh." The redhead would've said more, but the doorbell rang again. "That'll be Tals and Luca, I think."

It wasn't, actually. The Twins were standing on the doorstep. "'Lo, Linnelly," said Two.

"Hi, ummm... Twins. Come on in." She gestured at the couch. "Didja bring snacks?"

"No, actually."

One gave his brother a 'look'. "We would have, but Two forgot to bring them."

"Well... we've got lots of junk food, so I'm sure you can have _something_."

"Like this?" Aist was holding up a bag of plain, ruffled chips that was bigger than her head.

"Uh, yeah, Aist. Like that."

_Ding-dong!_ The doorbell rang for the third time. Linnelly opened the door, and there stood the second pair of girls, Tallimine and Luca. The wind had started to pick up, and Tallimine had to constantly brush her wavy mint-green hair out of her face while she stood. Luca's short black hair, on the other hand, was secured by the slightly battered black cap she was never seen without. They had about the same amount of luggage as the other two girls, although Luca was also holding a 2-liter of root beer.

"Hiya!" said the redhead, from over on the couch. "It's about time you got here. Hey, you brought root beer!" Aistanocha was just about famous for her love of root beer- well, that, and an event that had come to be known as 'The Root Beer Incident.'

Luca grinned back. "Yup. Strictly because I knew _you_ were coming."

"Hey!" But she was laughing. "Meanie."

"Can we please have this conversation INSIDE?" interrupted Tallimine, who'd given up on keeping her hair out of her face. She looked like a green sheepdog.

"Of course, Miss Bossy," said Aist and Luca in unison. Then they both laughed and flung the newcomers' gear (minus root beer) into the ever-growing pile.

"Now we're just waiting for Sydney," said Kasirell as she secured a spot on the couch.

"Hey! Leave room for us!" complained the Twins.

The green-haired girl spread out her sleeping bag, which was midnight blue, on the floor next to Luca's stars-and-moons one. "We're sitting on the floor anyways. Sydney'll have to do that too."

As if on cue, the doorbell rang again. This time, an auburn-haired girl, a couple of years older than Linnelly and her friends, was on the doorstep. She'd brought a huge bag of Doritos.

"Come on, pull up some carpet," said Luca. Then she realized what she'd said, and hurriedly added, "Not literally, duh. Linny's mom would kill us if we wrecked the Carpet of Stunning Living Roomness."

"OK." She yanked a purple sleeping bag out of the pile and came to join them."Do we have everyone?"

Linnelly counted. "I think so. Let's see... Aist, Kas, the Twins, Tals, Luca, and you. Yep, that's everyone."

"Can we start the movie, then?" asked a voice from beside her, but closer to the floor than expected. She looked over, and there was Aist, stretched out beside Tallimine. "Whaaat? That couch isn't big enough for five people."

"Nothing. I just didn't realize you'd moved."

Just as Linnelly was popping the first DVD- _Attack of the Demon Clowns_- into the player, two small figures appeared in the doorway. "Wanna watch!"

"Oh, fine." She picked them up and set them on the couch, where they promptly climbed into Two's lap. "NOW let's watch the movie."


	7. A spooky night

All ten of the movie-watchers seemed fine as the second one, _Sinister Sister 2_, about a little sister possessed by an evil alien ghost, came to its chilling conclusion. Both bags of chips were empty, although half the root beer (and a can Aist had brought for herself) was left over.

The Twins were the first to leave. They stood up (after removing the silent Adrian and Neil from Two's lap) and stretched, brushing a few chip crumbs off themselves. "Good movie. But we have to go."

"'Kay." Aist handed the nearest twin her can of pop. "Here, have some..." she paused dramatically. "Root beer."

They laughed, and phased through the nearest wall. "Thanks, Aist."

Sydney was next. "It's been fun, but I gotta go too." She, too, brushed chip crumbs off herself (it had been pretty messy when Luca and Tallimine teamed up to get one of the uncooperative bags open) and left, making sure not to leave anything behind.

As the five girls laughed, talked, played games, and so forth downstairs, Mrs. Connor was putting the little twins to bed.

"Howcome we can't stay up, Mommy?" Adrian asked.

"Because you're three, and, well, Linnelly's thirteen. She's a lot older than you."

The small boy pouted. "I bet the big Twins get to stay up."

"Well, they're all grown up, so they can stay up if they want. But you're not grown-ups yet." She turned on the night light. "Do you want me to tell you or read you a story?"

"Tell!" they both shouted.

"Okay."

Several hours later- two AM, to be exact- the wind picked up again, the same way it had when Tallimine and Luca arrived. The windowpanes rattled a little, the house creaked, and an owl hooted a couple of times.

Adrian and Neil were awakened when a branch from the tree near the window was blown into it. "Mommy?"

The branch hit the window again. "Mommmmmy?"

The house creaked. It sounded like footsteps, downstairs. "Mommeeeeeeeeee!" they shrieked.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the living room, the twins' screams had awakened Linnelly and her friends.

"What was that?" asked Kasirell nervously.

"I don't know." Tallimine looked as nervous as her friend sounded.

"It sounded like some tortured spirit... reawakened and roaming the house." That was Aist, who made up the best ghost stories and never got (very) scared by horror movies or scary books.

"Oh, great, Aist, now none of us will be able to sleep," grumbled Luca, hatless for once.

"Come on, it's not her fault she's got an overactive imagination," said Linnelly, trying to stick up for her friend.

"Yes, it _is_," chorused Kasirell, Tallimine and Luca together, although they all knew those three were joking.

Upstairs, Adrian and Neil were more scared than ever. They clung to each other in the bed, too afraid to move. "Momeeeeeeee..." whined Neil.

He got no answer; evidently, Laurelynne was a deep sleeper.

The branch whacked against the window again. "MOMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" they wailed together.

"What the heck was _that_ noise?" asked the redheaded girl, looking around. "It sounded like..."

"DON'T say it, Aist," warned Kasirell. "I don't want to be any more scared than I already am!"

"Your house is haunted, Lin!" said Luca, wide brown eyes focusing on her friend.

"No, it's not."

Just then, two shadowy, transparent figures came straight through the ceiling.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" screamed all five girls, clinging to each other in the darkness.

The transparent shapes solidified when they were a foot off the ground, and shot directly into Linnelly's sleeping bag.

"Linny?" asked a small voice from somewhere near her ankles. "Can we sleep wif you?"

She reached in and pulled out the two boys. "It's just my little brothers, okay?"

_Wrong thing to say_, she thought. Her friends were all staring at her. Finally Aist commented, "Well, I guess that explains why they look like little versions of the Twins."

"You got it." She looked at the closest twin, who happened to be Neil. "Of course you can sleep with me. Just let me get a couple extra pillows for you."


End file.
